ABSTRACT
Until the early ninth century, the Franks and Bulgars were separated by the Avar khaganate, which seems to have presented an obstacle to the establishment of direct political relations between them. Once Krum had completed the job of destroying the Avars, he had to reorganize his own polity to avoid a similar fate befalling it. Krum had considerably increased the political weight of the Bulgar state, through the conquest of some of the Eastern Avar territories straddling the Danube and presumably stretching south-east of the lower reaches of the river Sava and along the river Tisza. At the end of 824, the emperor received 'the envoys of the Obodrites who are commonly called Praedenecenti and live in Dacia on the Danube as neighbours of the Bulgars', who 'complained about vicious aggression by the Bulgars and asked for help against them'.
